Christmas is supposed to feel real — filled with warmth, wonder, and worship. Yet for many, it doesn’t. The decorations go up, the playlists return, and the obligations multiply, but something inside feels missing. Many of us go through the motions, trying to...
This Advent, our series “Artificial Christmas” invites us to examine the incarnation — God made flesh — through the odd and probing light of our technological age. We’re surrounded by things that appear real but aren’t: artificial intelligence, artificial...
The water I will give them will become in them a spring that will provide life-giving water and give them eternal life. John 4:5-30 Questions for Life Groups Read John 4:5-30 and the article in this week’s Circuit Rider titled Belonging. Pay attention to the corners...
From the air, parts of the Midwest look like a quilt of green circles stitched into brown soil. Each one marks where a machine turns, drawing perfect patterns of life into the land. Inside those circles, crops flourish; beyond them, the earth withers. Six years ago, I...
We had to celebrate and be happy, because your brother was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found. Luke 15:11-32 Questions for Life Groups Read Luke 15:11-32 and the article in this week’s Circuit Rider titled Memory. When judgment rises...
We’re living in a season of deep weariness and division. So many of us feel exhausted by the noise of accusation—the endless cycle of blame and counter-blame that fills our headlines, our conversations, even our inner thoughts. Every day, we’re told who is to blame...
Then Jesus took a piece of bread, gave thanks to God, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in memory of me. Luke 22:14-22 Questions for Life Groups Read Luke 22:14-22. You should read this entire chapter to gain...
Cyndi and I are building a log home. As each log was placed during the first stage, I picture an old story coming to life through the grain—an ancient, steady, and deeply human tale. There’s a sense of nostalgia that makes you imagine pioneers carving out a life in...
When I look at the sky, which You have made, at the moon and the stars, which You set in their places, what are human beings, that You think of them; mere mortals, that You care for them? Psalm 8 Questions for Life Groups Christ repeatedly taught that God’s kingdom is...
Senator Elizabeth Warren, commenting on a photo showing roof tiles and windowpanes falling from the East Wing of the White House, said it captures our current president in a single image. “Illegal, destructive, and not helping you.” Journalist Jess Bidgood, in a New...